Nicole Premier/Manga
Interactions with Akira Nano doesn't make contact with Akira until volume 2 (chapter 6), when Akira is running away from Shiki; he returns Akira's lost knife and helps Akira escape. Chapter 10 contains a partial flashback to their first meeting. Although Nano often observes Akira, almost approaches him in chapter 15, and intervenes on Akira’s behalf several times, they don’t speak again until volume 6. In that volume, Akira is captured by Kiriwar and taken to Arbitro. Although drugged, Akira tries to escape in chapter 30 by climbing out a window. He falls, and is caught in midair by Nano. Nano takes out the guard who attempts to shoot them using a fork stolen from the Palace. In chapter 31, Akira wakes in the greenhouse. Nano appears before him and licks the blood from a cut on his hand, which Akira protests. Nano replies that Akira's blood cannot harm him, but it will right the sins of this world. He says Akira’s presence contains salvation and disappears. As Akira broods, Nano draws his own blood (for Line) and thinks about how everything will be over soon. In the next chapter, a recovered Akira interrupts Nano’s reading to say thank you, and to ask Nano about what he meant by seeing without trying and trying without seeing. They talk, and remembering Keisuke’s hatred upsets Akira. Nano picks up and puts Akira on a couch. He tells Akira to rest and joins their hands; the warmth prompts Akira to remember their past meeting. Their discussion is interrupted by an explosion at the Palace, and Nano tells Akira to stay behind before he vanishes. Fights with Gunji Nano and Gunji clash several times. Their first meeting is in chapter 17; Gunji dangles Akira above a pit and demands that Akira cry and scream. Nano interrupts by throwing debris at Gunji, but Akira is dropped anyway and catches himself on a pipe. Nano then briefly clashes with Gunji before disappearing. In later chapters, Gunji shows a slight fixation on the “ghost,” asking others for their thoughts. In chapter 24, Nano is wandering around and encounters Gunji, who is eager to fight. Nano catches Gunji’s claws with his hand, which delights Gunji because it means Nano is corporeal. Their battle continues into chapter 25, and picks up again in volume six, chapter 28, which notably shows Nano’s hand cannot penetrate Gunji’s bare skin. Nano’s response to this is to headbutt Gunji and start throwing metal pipes. Shiki catches sight of Nano during the fight and hurries to the area, but bumps into Gunji and distracts him. Nano disappears as they argue. In chapter 37, Nano fights Gunji for the last time. Nano kills him using one of Gunji’s own broken claws. Flashbacks The manga includes multiple flashbacks to Nano’s past, primarily involving Shiki or Emma. The blood-splattered lab of Nano’s escape appears several times; in chapter 19, it appears when Emma remembers how Nano took her arm. In chapter 23, Motomi visits Arbitro to talk about Project Nicole; a flashback shows Nano getting extracted from a successful battle. Nano annihilated the enemy troops in seven minutes and 13 seconds, and Emma is thoroughly congratulated as the leader of the team. The crudeness of the other scientists is more overt in the Tokyopop translation, as one suggests:'' “Nothing motivates teenage boys like a pair of boobs.”'' Meanwhile, Nano is at the coliseum during an Il-Re battle. He stares at an ampoule of Line and recalls Emma's words of praise for his emotional control. Shiki briefly recalls meeting Nano on the battlefield in chapters 7, 8, and 13, but chapter 24 contains a longer scene where a younger Shiki observes Nano on the field, only to meet Nano's eyes and lose everything to fear. His flashback is picked up again in chapter 29, showing how they fought. Shiki thinks about the research documents that led him to learning about Nano’s history as an experiment (highlighted by showing Nano with wires trailing and blood dripping). Other Activity In the manga, the military sends covert amounts of troops into Toshima; in chapter 13, Gwen discovers Nano cutting down these soldiers. Gwen’s life is spared after Nano hears Emma's voice over Gwen’s communications device. His fight with Gunji in chapters 24-25 involves them both fighting troops and dodging bullets as well as each other. In chapter 38, Nano stands covered in the blood of another group of fallen soldiers, contemplating his color. In chapter 18, Shiki is cutting down participants when he hears the meow of a cat and spots Nano. Shiki gives chase, and Nano leads him to a suitcase full of Line. He exits through a window after confusing Shiki with his talk of colors.